SiriusXM Rumored to Buy Stitcher Podcast Platform

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) discovered that SiriusXM -- the satellite radio company -- is involved in serious negotiations to purchase the podcast platform Stitcher from its parent, E.W. Scripps.,

If the acquisition goes through, the satellite radio company gains a beach head in the growing podcast industry.

Streaming music giant Spotify has been moving aggressively into the podcast business for several years with key acquisitions like Gimlet and building the infrastructure of its own podcast ecosystem and popular content.

If a deal does happen, it would finalize later this week, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Press representatives from SiriusXM and Stitcher declined to comment.

Stitcher brought in around $72.5 million in revenue last year, more than double what it made in 2017. 

 For the television-centric Scripps, which had already committed over half a billion dollars towards acquiring several TV stations in early 2019, this swift context change all but took them out of the running to competitively spend on podcasting in the short-to-medium term.

Scripps has a long and distinguished history in journalism and media. In 1878, company founder Edward W. Scripps borrows $10,000 to start his first newspaper, the Penny Press, in Cleveland. His mission was to give a voice to the working class. In 1883, E.W. acquires control of the Cincinnati Penny Post from his brother James, later renaming it the Cincinnati Post. In 1890, he starts The Kentucky Post, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

In 1941, the 17th National Spelling Bee marked the beginning of Scripps’ official stewardship of the program. In 1994, Scripps begins delivering lifestyle content to a growing audience of consumers who were tuning in to cable. The successful development and launch of HGTV to six million U.S. homes is the start of the company’s rapid growth in cable lifestyle networks. It later launches or acquires five more networks: Food Network (1997), DIY (1998), Fine Living (2002), Shop at Home (2002) and Great American Country (2004). in 2008, Scripps spun off its cable networks and online shopping services into a separate publicly traded company, Scripps Networks Interactive.

In addition to the Stitcher app, the company also encompasses advertising arm Midroll Media and podcast network Earwolf, which is behind such shows as Scott Aukerman's Comedy Bang! Bang! and Office Ladies. The executive team has years of podcasting experience, which can help boost Sirius's know-how in the burgeoning field.

The deal follows Sirius's mid-June purchase of podcast hosting and distribution company Simplecast, which works with clients like Netflix. Sirius — which serves as the exclusive home to Howard Stern — grew its podcast business with the 2019 acquisition of online radio platform Pandora, which allows podcasters to upload their shows for distribution among its 61 million monthly listeners.

Stitcher launched in 2008 to offer an alternative to Apple Podcasts. After a brief period under Deezer ownership, Scripps acquired the company in 2016.

Stitcher's app, which offers more than 100,000 titles, serves as an alternative to Spotify or Apple Podcasts. A premium version of the app, which costs $5 per month (or $35 for the year), removes the ads and features exclusive and early-access programming.

Scripps' Stitcher division brought in $17.1 million in operating revenue for the first quarter of the year, up 13 percent from the same period a year earlier.

According to THR, Sony Music -- which also has made strategic moves into the podcast business -- looked at Stitcher, which was hoping to yield at least $300 million for the sale.

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